Abstract
This book provides a detailed description of the recent decline of the death penalty in the United States. “(M)ore and more states are seriously questioning the utility of capital punishment” (p. x) and, as illustrated by charts in the Introduction, both the number of executions and the number of people on death row are declining. Although unapologetically anti-capital punishment, the authors do not preach, but rather concentrate on providing factual descriptions of the myriad forms the abolitionist struggle has taken in different states. Assertions are supported by numerous endnotes referencing legislative history, newspaper articles, and academic sources.
The first of three sections is entitled “Abolition,” and starts with a chapter consisting of short summaries of the history of the death penalty in 13 abolitionist jurisdictions. It would have been nice to have some introductory or concluding commentary beyond the two sentence first paragraph, but the individual subsections are replete with interesting details. While the cost of capital punishment was an important abolitionist argument in most places, the political and cultural influences on each jurisdiction’s policy varied considerably.
The remainder of Section I consists of chapters on each of the four states that had recently abolished the death penalty by the time this book went to press. Chapter two describes the long debate over the death penalty in New York, the reinstatement of capital punishment in 1995, and the appellate court’s ruling that the statute was unconstitutional. Interestingly, proponents gave up their efforts to pass a new law when 148 of the 170 people giving testimony argued against a new death penalty, including much emphasis on the fact that the state had spent $170 million over 10 years to obtain seven death sentences. In 2007, New Jersey became the first state since 1965 to legislatively repeal the death penalty, and Chapter three’s description illustrates the power of a well-organized abolition movement and the Catholic Church in the second most Catholic state in the nation. Again in New Jersey, the overwhelming majority of witnesses testifying before a legislative committee were against the death penalty, and there was considerable emphasis on the ongoing trauma to victim’s families caused by new trials and appeals. Chapter four describes how New Mexico legislatively abolished the death penalty a year later, after a campaign maintaining that the death penalty does not serve the interests of victims, concerns over executing the innocent, and official estimates of the high costs of execution. The last chapter on Illinois emphasizes the integral role played by the Northwestern School of Journalism’s Innocence Project, which had led to the exoneration of 13 Illinois death row prisoners by 2004. Governor Ryan received national attention for establishing a moratorium on executions because of his concerns about wrongful executions, and a study showing racism in the death penalty and evidence of the high cost in a state experiencing a budget crisis contributed to the momentum that led to eventual abolition in 2011.
Chapter six, the first chapter in Section II, “Quasi-Abolition,” describes the contentious death penalty debate in Kansas which involved the consideration of 48 death penalty bills before the first post-Furman death penalty bill was passed in 1994. The authors maintain that the most significant contributors to the “(p)erfect (s)torm” (p. 83) that led to the reestablishment of capital punishment in Kansas were two particularly disturbing murders that became especially powerful because the families of the victims lobbied for the death penalty. The abolition near misses in four different states are covered in the next two chapters. Chapter seven describes lengthy debates in New Hampshire and Connecticut resulting in legislative repeal of the death penalty that was then vetoed by the governors in each state. The election of an abolitionist governor in Connecticut led the authors to correctly predict that Connecticut would repeal the death penalty in 2012, and thus become the fifth state in 5 years to reject capital punishment. Chapter eight explains how two unlikely states came close to abolishing the death penalty, largely because of the relentless efforts of State Senator Ernie Chambers in Nebraska and studies finding racist application in Maryland. Chapter nine, entitled “De Facto Abolition States,” consists of short sections describing the experience of 14 states that have had 13 or fewer executions between 1977 and 2010.
The first chapter in Section III, Chapter 10, points out that although 58.56% of the legal executions between 1608 and 2002 took place in the South (p. 139), there are expanding abolitionist movements in this region. Then the authors provide short subsections summarizing the history of executions and abolition efforts in seven southern states. Especially interesting points made in this chapter are that some politicians were able to oppose the death penalty without committing political suicide and that questions about wrongful convictions are gaining traction in Texas. Oddly, the final chapter providing the authors’ “Summary and Conclusion” (p. 156) is included in Section III, entitled “The South,” even though it covers general issues that apply to the death penalty debate throughout the country.
This book provides important insights into the political and cultural forces that determine whether a state abolishes the death penalty. The cost is cited repeatedly, but abolition efforts can turn on state-specific circumstances such as whether the relatives of murder victims mobilize to support or oppose the death penalty. It is noteworthy that although the majority of the public supports the death penalty, the passion seems to be on the side of abolitionists as they typically outnumber proponents when testimony is presented to lawmakers. A wealth of information is presented in this book, but some points are made in more detail than others. Despite nearly 60 pages of endnotes, there were times when additional explanations or citations would have been helpful. However, this book provides fascinating details about the forces supporting the abolition movement, and a convincing argument that the end of the death penalty in the United States is attainable.